Posts tagged “conditioning”

Straps are great for conditioning your upper body and core. I’ve made a video of a few of my favorite conditioning exercises on straps. After a ground based warm up I usually start with skinning the cat as a warm up for my training on straps. I do about 5 repetitions, when I’m only doing a conditioning session I aim for 3 sets, when I’m doing other training as well I might only do one. The first part of skinning the cat is just a leg lift, then you take your legs over your head and lower on the other side as low as you can and then reverse the whole motion.

The next exercise I show on the video is what I call middle to middle. From your legs on either side of one arm, lower your bum and lift back up so that your legs are on either side of the other arm. This exercise really work your core. I usually do 10 repetitions (5 on each side) for a conditioning sessions I aim for 3 sets otherwise I might just do one.

The next one is lowering from middle. Another great exercise for the core as you have to keep your body balanced while you’re lowering your legs. Eventually you can work up to lifting back up.

The last exercise in the video is sideplanche to sideplanche. This exercise takes some getting used to as you lower to the side with your arm behind your back. This really works the back muscles as well as the obliques on the way back up.

There are variations to make this exercise harder. For example you can write out numbers with your feet, but keep your legs straight. Or you can rock in that position, it’s very important to keep your body as rigid as possible.

From this position you can also do leg lifts, lift your legs all the way until they touch your hands without using momentum.

Hip raises:

Lie on your back with your legs straight at a 90 degree angle and then without using momentum lift your hips of the ground, you can have your arms next to your body or to make it harder extend them over your head.

Seated leg lifts:

Sit on the floor with your legs straight and your hands on the floor about mid-thigh, lean slightly forward with your back straight. From this start position lift your legs a few inches off the floor. To make this harder move your hands closer to your feet. Some people might struggle with this due to poor hamstring flexibility, so if you can’t lean forward with a straight back you might not be targeting the right muscle group.

Plank:

In addition to the pose that zaki has posted about you can add a few variations to make it harder, like lifting one arm and opposite leg, or you can keep your hands and feet on one line as if your balancing on a beam (this makes your base smaller and you’ll have to work harder to stabilize your body)

Jackknife on a gymball:

Start in a plank position with your shins on a gymball, then bring the ball towards you (keeping your legs straight) until you’re in a pike handstand position, as in this picture

then roll back until your in an arched position and repeat.

Other exercises including handstand positions:

Stand in front of a wall with your arms extended over your head, push tall, take a few steps back and lean your hands against the wall while maintaining a straight body line and hold. The further away from the wall you step the harder it gets.